Legendary
by KymmaRaven
Summary: When Zoro's personality undergoes a sudden shift after the events of Alabasta, Nami and Sanji struggle to understand what happened to their crewmate. As their travels continue, the answers they find lead to more unanswered questions and the discovery of a lifetime... (Summary may later revised.)
1. Chapter 1

Desert winds picked up sand, a great deal more than was already flying around in the air, and sent it spinning around in a frenzied whirlwind all throughout the city. Shouts and cries and screams echoed loudly through the streets, bouncing off the walls and pavement until they reached the ears of those desperate not to hear the pain of the ones they fought. More wind carried more sand that burned lungs, made eyes water, grated against skin and rubbed it raw, hindered breathing, limited sight… Bullets ricocheted off stone, wounding and sometimes killing even the innocent. Blades crashed together with loud shrieks of steel. Exhaustion hindered movement, but didn't stop it. Nothing could stop the fighting. If anything, each fresh injury, every new casualty only served to add fuel to the flame.

This was the rebellion.

Amidst the chaos, three people ran together in tight formation, their cloaks billowing behind them as they went, fighting against the wind all the way. Another gust ripped an orange keffiyeh with a gold chain off a head and carried it away. The small twister of sand forced the runners to shield their faces with their arms, lest they go blind. A voice made raspy by thirst and raised to be heard forced its way through the sand and wind to reach the ears of its companions. "We'll never find it in time if this keeps up!"

"We have to try!" answered a second voice. "Vivi-chan will never forgive herself if all those people are killed!"

"But Sanji, we're running out of time!" protested the first voice. "What do we do?!"

Sanji gritted his teeth as his mind seemed to race. "You already checked the alleys to the left of the courtyard where they're fighting, right Nami?"

Nami nodded, her short orange hair whipping around her face. "I heard Pell is checking all the rooftops," she informed him quickly.

"Good," Sanji replied. "We'll just have to keep checking the ground, then."

"Don't bother with the houses. They're too small."

"Right."

The third member of the group, the only one who had not spoken yet, skidded to a sudden halt, sliding sideways on his shoes in the sandy road. He turned his head to stare down the path, opposite of the way they had been going. He frowned. _Something's wrong. _

Nami and Sanji heard his hasty halt and also stopped, turning to look at him. Nami's expression was confused, but Sanji's expression remained serious. She pushed a few errant strands of hair out of her face with her hand. "Zoro?"

He barely spared her half a glance before returning his attention forward. _That way? _

Sanji stepped up to his side. For once, there was no arguing, no name-calling, no drama. There was only seriousness and a sort of mutual understanding of what must be done for the sake of their newest friend. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," Zoro admitted slowly. "I've just got a bad feeling."

Nami thought fast. "Go check it out, then." Sanji nodded his agreement, not that Zoro needed his permission. Still, the swordsman hesitated. "Go, Zoro," Nami insisted. "We'll handle this." After that, Zoro didn't hesitate. With a brief answering nod he took off, running in the direction he had been staring.

Nami sighed, worry making her heart pound. She trusted his instincts, but that wasn't the issue here. _What if we can't find the bomb without him? _

"Well, in that case…" Nami turned in time to see Sanji pull a cigarette out of his mouth and exhale a breath of smoke. He met her gaze evenly. "Maybe we should split up. We'd cover more ground faster that way."

"Alright," she agreed readily.

"Do you still have the transponder snail Vivi gave you?" he inquired.

"Yes," she nodded.

"Good," he replied. "Don't hesitate to use it if you run into trouble."

"I won't run into trouble," she assured him, "but I'll call if I find the bomber."

He nodded and they split up, each running in different directions. There were no well wishes, no words of encouragement or hope, no farewells said hastily just in case. There was no time for such things. They couldn't afford to waste time. They couldn't afford to fail. _We have to succeed… for her sake. _

The cannon would have to be huge. Of that they were certain. The only thing they _didn't_ know was where it was located. Nami panted harshly as she pushed herself to go faster. Her lungs burned. There was a stitch developing in her side. Her legs ached. She didn't allow herself to stop, running harder instead. They had only a few minutes left. _Where… Where is it? _Her eyes rapidly scanned the roads, the sides and edges of the tops of buildings, and even the skies. Desperate, she went against what she had told Sanji not long before and began throwing open the doors to houses.

Two minutes.

She checked another house. _Too small! _Another house, this one crammed full of an unnecessary amount of furniture. _Too small! _Another house, and another, and another. _Too small! They're all too __small__! _Another house, another failure. Finally, she gave up and resumed her frantic run from before. Empty alleyways, tiny shops, streets crowded by scattered property and goods, buildings with no entrances… The cannon couldn't be in any of those places. _So where is it?! _

The snail stuffed in her robes suddenly opened its mouth. "Birubirubirubiru-"

A slim hand riffled through her clothes and finally pulled the snail out into the open. Stopping and standing on legs so weak from exhaustion that they felt like shaking rubber, she answered the call. "Hello?" she gasped out.

"Nami!" It was Usopp. His voice sounded urgent, yet excited. "Vivi found the bombers! I think she might've just stopped them!"

"What?!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "Why wasn't I told sooner that she'd found them?"

"I swear it just happened!" Usopp replied quickly. "It was all over so fast…!"

Nami quashed her annoyance and sighed inwardly. _At least they were stopped. _"Where were they?" she asked, able to speak a bit more normally now that she had caught her breath somewhat.

"In the clock tower."

Nami _hated _the fact that the bomb had been so close. _And we had no idea… _

It was silent on the other end for about a minute. Nami figured he was speaking to Sanji, who also had a snail. Then, suddenly, he moaned. "_Oh man…_"

"What?" she demanded.

"The bomb…" he muttered. "It… has a timer… It will… It's going to go off on its own…"

Her heart started to pound as panic rose up in her. "How long?!"

"J… Just over a minute…"

The snail slipped from her suddenly nerveless fingers. A hand slowly went up to cover her mouth, her eyes shimmering with horror. Her legs suddenly gave out and she fell onto her knees, staring at the ground but not really seeing anything. _Even after all this… Even after we all tried so hard… _For no real reason, her gaze lifted to stare at the open clock tower she could just see over the tops of the buildings before her. _…we failed… _They had done so much to get to this point. Igaram had sacrificed his life to allow Vivi to return here. They had escape giant Banangators and faced off with Crocodile and destroyed the strongest members of Baroque Works and yet… it wasn't enough. Then, a change of fate. A very large bird flew out of the tower, a huge, round object clutched tightly in its talons. Her eyes widened and tears threatened to form in them. _Pell…! _ He soared upward on mighty wings and quickly disappeared into the clouds far above.

Usopp's voice sounded once more from the snail just as she finally lost the battle and tears began spilling down her face. "P-Pell is taking the bomb…! Soon it will…!"

Nami's squeezed her eyes shut tightly and shook her head vigorously. _No! I don't want to hear you say it! _

The scrape of a shoe on the sand street behind her failed to really draw her attention, but the sound of an unexpected voice caused her eyes to snap open and her head to whip around. "Nami."

"Z… Zoro…?" She didn't know what had happened to him or where he had been, but at the moment, concern far outweighed confusion. And, at this point, anything was a welcome distraction from the sky. She quickly stood and took the two steps needed to stand before him and the unconscious, bleeding captain slung over his shoulder. "What happened to him?"

"Crocodile." He shifted his load then added disjointedly, "Poisoned him."

She gritted her teeth and helped him lower their captain to the ground so that he was lying flat on his back in the sand. "And Crocodile?" she inquired crisply, dropping to her knees by Luffy's side to check him over.

"Dead." He didn't offer any explanation, and she didn't ask. Such things could wait until later.

The snail opened it's mouth again. "Nami get ready!" Usopp cried.

The next few moments went by in slow motion. Her eyes snapped up to the sky. A blinding sphere of light erupted in the sky, parting the clouds so that they made a circle above the city. There was a deafening roar. The ground shook violently. The tops of tall buildings were completely disintegrated by the edges of the explosion. A fierce rush of wind hit them, sending people, animals, and objects flying. Nami slid backward on her knees a few inches. A wave of heat hit her hard, making her wince. Then, in one final climactic moment, it was all over. Pell was gone.

She wanted to sob, but that needed to wait as she crawled forward to retrieve her snail, which was resting by Luffy's head. Tears smeared the dirt on her face. "U-Usopp! Send Chopper to that street with the tower with the stained glass windows that we saw earlier! The one by the huge clothing store! Luffy needs help!" She would have loved to call Chopper directly, but Vivi had only had three snails and, after a quick discussion, it had been decided that she, Sanji, and Usopp would carry them.

"Okay!" He sounded like he was crying, too.

She opened her mouth to reply but was cut short by a thud behind her. Twisting around to see behind her, she gasped when she saw not one, but _two_ unconscious men on the ground. "Zoro!" Initially, she had only been concerned about Luffy. After all, the rubber man was bleeding heavily and looked like he was running a fever from the poison. However, seeing Zoro lying motionless on the ground quickly changed her mind. He was on his stomach with his arms up by his head, a frown marring his otherwise calm expression. She crawled over and nudged his shoulder with one hand. "Zoro?" she asked quietly. No response. She placed both hands flat on his back and shook him. "Zoro!" Nothing. Alarmed, she snatched up her snail again. "Usopp, get Chopper here _now_!"

* * *

**Posted 04-20-15.**


	2. Chapter 2

Sanji, his hands shoved deeply into the pockets of his black pants, stood by a palace bed, staring calmly into his sleeping crewmate's face, his head lowered so that his hair covered his eyes. "I don't get it. He's not injured." Though his tone was calm, there was a certain strain in it, a tension in his stance that he would probably never admit to.

Nami sat in a wooden chair against the wall beside a dark wood desk. Her chair was right next to the door, causing her to wonder idly if she would get hit if someone suddenly swung that door open. She looked worriedly at Sanji, then dropped her gaze to the bed. "He seemed so tired… Maybe it was exhaustion?"

"No," Chopper answered, his expression serious as he ground some medicinal herbs in a bowl for Luffy. "It's not exhaustion. I don't know what it is."

Luffy had awoken a few hours ago, but his injuries weren't healed yet. Chopper's quick actions had saved him from the poison though, much to everyone's relief. The rubber man sat cross-legged on his own bed, bandages wrapping around his neck and a strip of tape on the top of his right cheek. Most of the rest of his bandages were concealed by his clothes, which he hadn't changed since waking up. Which meant he was still filthy. His straw hat rested atop his head as per usual, and he grinned goofily. "He'll be fine. Zoro's strong."

"Yeah… I'm sure he'll be fine," Usopp agreed tiredly from where he sat on the floor. "Meanwhile, I feel like I'm gonna die…"

Luffy laughed at him. "You'll be fine, too!" he declared merrily.

Their lack of concern almost made Nami angry. She supposed their faith in his recovery was heartening, but… _Recovery from what? _Something was clearly wrong with him, and even Chopper didn't know what. _They could at least pretend to care. _She knew for a fact that Luffy cared, even if he was doing a poor job of showing it, and Chopper of course cared as well, but she wasn't so sure about Usopp and Sanji. _Luffy cares about all his friends, and so does Chopper, but Usopp never really interacts with Zoro. And Sanji… sometimes I swear it's like watching a cat and a dog, with the way those two fight. _She sighed softly to herself. Of course, she had to admit… she was often terrible at showing how much she cared for her crewmates as well. She cared about all of them very much, even Zoro, as much as his attitude and laziness got on her nerves.

A soft knock drew everyone's attention to the room's only door. Vivi walked in. "Dinner is ready." She cast a worried glance at Luffy and Zoro before her gaze settled on Luffy. "I can have someone bring up a tray…?"

"No, I'll just go downstairs!" Luffy replied. He raced out past her without another word, causing Chopper to gasp.

"Wait, Luffy! Don't run! Come back! You'll reopen your wounds!" The little reindeer jumped off his stool in front of the desk and raced after him, his arms in the air in panic. "_Come back_!"

Sanji shook his head and followed them, leaving a thin trail of smoke behind him as he walked, muttering, "Idiot," as he went.

Usopp followed with a cry of, "Wait for me!"

Nami glared lightly at him. _Dying, huh… _

Vivi entered the room fully. "Are you coming?"

Nami looked at her and shrugged. "I'm not hungry."

"I understand," Vivi murmured. "I don't feel very hungry either." Nami didn't reply, so Vivi continued. "Would you like anything? Water? A book?"

Somehow, Nami managed a small smile. "A book would be nice." Vivi nodded and walked to the door. Nami stood and followed the princess down the lengthy hallway. They turned a series of corners, through a corridor with one side open to a grassy courtyard below, and finally entered a lone room. Nami's eyes widened. "Oh, _wow_…"

Vivi smiled at her reaction. "This is the palace library. Most of the books are pretty old, but I think that makes them more enjoyable." She turned to Nami. "You can pick whatever you like. Think of it as a 'thank you' for all you have done for me."

Nami gasped. "You'd be willing to let me take irreplaceable books?"

"Of course!" Vivi laughed. "You'd get more use out of them than me. The books I enjoy are all in my room, anyway."

Nami's smile just about split her face in half. "Thank you," she breathed.

"You're welcome," Vivi replied warmly.

When Vivi left to go join the others downstairs, Nami began perusing the shelves. Rows upon rows upon rows of old books met her hungry eyes, but for the life of her she couldn't find one that seemed interesting. _I don't have time to try reading them all. _Of course she knew about the saying that advised people not to judge a book by its cover, but she was doing exactly the opposite. She walked slowly through quite a few rows of shelves. Many of the books were simple and brown, but some were bright yellow, dark red, light green, and so on.

She kept walking for a while before finally reaching the back of the large room. She glanced over the last shelf. With a shrug, she started to turn away. Then, in the corner farthest from the door, she spotted something that caught her eye. The book's cover was ornate and highly aesthetically pleasing. The gold color that covered it was shiny even in the room's soft bluish light. She picked the book up off the shelf and ran her fingers lightly over the raised decorations on the cover. This book was different from the others. She could feel it. Smiling softly, she held the book close to her and walked back to the bedroom.

(-)

"I told you, I'm fine."

"Like hell you are. You collapsed, you idiot!" Sanji glared with crossed arms at Zoro, who gazed back with uncharacteristic calm, his arms also crossed. Sanji bared his teeth in a silent display of irritation. _What the hell's the matter with him? _A warm breeze whispered through the sunny courtyard the two men stood in. Zoro, dressed in a dark gray robe with his haramaki still in its usual place, stood mostly in the shade as he leaned against the palace wall while Sanji stood before him. Sanji shoved his hands into his pockets. "Well? You gonna talk?" Zoro had been unconscious for three days and then he'd just woken up and suddenly been "fine"… The cook didn't buy it for a minute.

Zoro closed his eyes. "There's nothing to talk about."

The incredibly thin amount of patience he had for the swordsman vanished in that moment. His leg swung out. Zoro's eyes snapped open. As expected, a sword made contact with his led, pressing hard, but not hard enough to cut. Sanji pushed harder. Normally they both would have been struggling, leg and sword shaking with effort, but as Sanji pushed even harder, that sword didn't even budge. Zoro's expression shifted subtly, but Sanji couldn't read it. That… _bothered_ him, though he didn't know why.

Nami walked outside then and quickly spotted the two of them. Hands migrating to hips, she glared hard and yelled, "I leave for _two_ minutes and you're already fighting?!"

Zoro glanced at her, and Sanji tried to take advantage of the moment of distraction… only to be sent sliding backward on his other foot. A white sword slid back into its sheath with a soft _snick_. Zoro leaned back against the wall again and closed his eyes once more.

Nami huffed and dragged Sanji a short distance away by his arm. "What are you _doing_?" she hissed. "He could be injured internally or something and you're starting _fights_?"

Sanji was too serious to pull any of his usual stunts on her right now. "No. He's not injured." At her confused expression, he said, "Even he can't deflect my kicks so easily when he's hurt."

"Still," she murmured," something's obviously wrong."

"Or maybe it _was_," he replied. "Maybe it's over now." He sighed, a puff of smoke escaping his lips and rising into the air. "But then again… he's not acting like himself. Not quite."

Any further conversation was halted by the sudden arrival of Usopp and Luffy as they ran into the courtyard from the town. They had been sent to get some food for the ship, but they seemed to be empty-handed. Luffy, much like Zoro, was wearing a robe now in place of his usual clothes. It was white with a red sash tied around the waist. "Sanji!" he called loudly. "Nami! Zoro!"

"What?" Sanji yelled back.

"We've gotta go!" Usopp called. The duo reached Sanji and Nami seconds later, and Usopp braced himself on his knees, panting hard. "The marines are here," he gasped out.

"Still?" Nami frowned. "I thought they would have left by now."

"With us still hanging around?" Sanji asked in response.

"Okay, you have a point," Nami conceded. She turned to Usopp. "How much time do we have?"

"Not much," he replied. "They're looking for us right now."

A window opened above and Vivi leaned out. "Everyone! Chopper and I packed your things! Come up and get them! Quickly!"

Sanji thought quickly. "Nami, you and Usopp help Chopper get our things. Me, Luffy and Marimo will hold off the marines." He noticed, of course, that his name-calling failed to earn a response from his target, but now wasn't the time to care. The two groups split off immediately, with Sanji's group running into the town. They ran through a street full of markets and his eyes instantly sought out the women shopping there. With great reluctance, he dragged his attention forward. _Not the time, not the time, not the time… _

Heading through an alley and rounding a sharp corner, they raced through a clearing. "We saw them this way!" Luffy called over his shoulder, leading the way. A few minutes later, he stopped and turned left. "Or was it this way?"

Sanji stopped a few feet behind him, his face taking on an expression of comical anger. "You don't _know_?!"

Luffy turned around with a ridiculous grin on his face. He placed a hand atop the hat on his head. "Nope. Sorry."

"_'Sorry'_ doesn't help!" Sanji shouted back, causing Luffy to laugh.

Zoro gazed off to the side, one hand resting on his white sword, the Wado Ichimonji. He breathed in, as though to release a sigh, and frowned slightly. "They're coming."

"Huh?" Luffy leaned to the side to see past Sanji.

Sanji turned to follow their gazes. A few moments later, he tensed. A large group of marines surrounded them in a tight circle. He sighed. "Well, at least we found them." He tapped the toe of his shoe on the ground, eager to get the fight started.

A stone-faced captain of some sort stepped out of the crowd to face them, stopping just in front of a row of his subordinates. "This is your only chance, Luffy Pirates. Surrender now."

"No thanks," Sanji replied nonchalantly.

"That wouldn't be fun," Luffy added, gripping one arm in preparation to punch.

With a flick of his thumb, Zoro pushed a sword just slightly out of its sheath, signaling his intention to fight.

"So be it. You were warned, Straw Hats." With that, the Marines surged forward and the fight began.

Luffy's arms stretched and he began throwing punches. Sanji lifted himself into a handstand and spun, kicking out powerfully as he did so. Zoro slashed out with shining steel. Sanji glanced to the side at the swordsman. Despite Nami's lingering concerns that Zoro was hurt, he was clearly doing fine. Still, something was off. It took Sanji a moment to put his finger on it, but when he did, he wondered why in the world he hadn't noticed it before. _Strange. He's only using one sword. _Luffy punched down the last marine and Sanji stood, turning to watch as Zoro straightened and sheathed his sword. _The white one again. _Sanji wondered, not for the first time, what was so special about that sword, but his train of thought was interrupted by the sudden arrival of the rest of the crew.

"We had to leave Vivi behind," Nami said by way of greeting. "We didn't want… she can't be called a criminal."

Sanji nodded. "How will we get to the ship?"

"She thought of that," Usopp jerked a thumb backward to indicate the ducks standing behind him.

Sanji nodded again and, without another word, they mounted their rides and began their flight across the desert.

* * *

**Posted 04-21-15.**


	3. Chapter 3

A fierce explosion ripped Nami from sleep and she jumped out of her desk chair before her mind even registered that she was awake. She ran to her door and threw it open. Her searching eyes quickly located their night watch. "What's going on?" she called as the rest of the crew rushed onto the deck. Zoro, who stood in the crow's nest, pointed forward and slightly to the right. Only then did she realize that there was an island. _It's already been a few weeks since Alabasta and we've somehow managed to avoid trouble for this long… so why is this happening now? _

"An island?" Luffy asked, a grin spreading across his face. "Awesome! Let's go!"

"No, not '_awesome_'!" Usopp shouted at him. "There was just an explosion! Who knows what kind of crazy people are there!"

"Well, if they're pirates, they'll probably come after us as we pass, anyway," Sanji said.

"That island is supposed to be uninhabited."

Nami turned slightly to face the newest addition to their crew, a stowaway who had revealed herself only once they were at sea. For the most part, everyone had accepted her. Even Usopp and Chopper, as afraid of her as they had been, no longer had any quarrels with her. "How do you know?"

Robin smiled a bit as she turned toward the navigator. "I read it in a geography book."

Nami nodded, deciding to trust in the other woman's judgment, and looked back to the island. "In that case, any people there are almost certainly pirates."

"Well, Luffy?" Sanji asked. "What do you want to do?"

"I want to go!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly.

"We should leave someone to guard the ship," Robin advised.

Nami murmured her agreement and glanced at Usopp, who stood beside her with knocking knees. "Usopp, you'll stay."

"O-O-Okay," he stammered. Then, feigning bravery, he said, "A-A-Alth-though you m-m-may reg-g-gret n-not having the g-g-great C-C-C-Captain Us-s-sopp by your side-"

She tuned him out after that, dismissing his words as his usual brand of cowardly ramblings, and turned to Chopper. The young reindeer stood leaning with his cheek pressed into her open door, sound asleep. The sight was undeniably adorable, though she would never admit that out loud. "Chopper's staying, too."

"I will stay as well." At the puzzled looks she received, Robin merely shrugged. "I have a book I want to finish reading."

With the arrangements made, they docked the ship near where the explosion had occurred and yet, hopefully, far enough away that no one on board would be in immediate danger. The four land-goers jumped off the ship. Almost immediately, Luffy ran to the trees near the shore. The jungle was thick and dark, with the barest hints of bright orange flowers in the darkness. Ferns dotted the outer edges of the jungle at irregular intervals, sometimes in clusters, sometimes alone. "Look!" What the captain had seen would forever remain a mystery, it seemed, as he stretched his arms out, grabbed something, and launched himself into the wilderness.

"L-Luffy!" Nami called out, but it was too late. The straw-hat wearing captain vanished into the darkness seconds later.

Sanji glared in the direction Luffy had gone. "Idiot."

"_Now_ what?" Nami muttered. "_He's_ the reason we came here."

"We may as well check it out," Sanji sighed, gesturing vaguely to the fire a couple miles away. Nami shrugged, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, and they began walking. Sanji stopped after a moment. "Oi, Marimo. Let's go."

Nami watched as Zoro, who had been gazing out into the sea, turned and silently began to follow them. Though she looked away, Nami glanced at him one last time before turning her attention fully forward. _He's still acting weird. _She knew it wasn't abnormal for him to not talk sometimes, but him not talking _all _the time _was_ abnormal. His recent habit of spacing out was also not normal behavior for him.

Chopper had been running himself ragged trying to figure out what in the world had happened to their crewmate, but it was to no avail. _It's no wonder the poor thing is so tired. _It didn't help that Zoro consistently refused let Chopper examine him. The odd part was the fact that he grew even more uncooperative when the reindeer tried to touch him. He'd never been opposed to touch before. Even if he'd never really touched people or let others touch him much before, he'd never really _avoided_ touch like he had been doing recently. However, further contemplation on the subject was halted by an unfamiliar woman's voice.

"Well, well, well, look who it is. A little girl and her adorable little lovers."

Nami's face flushed in anger. "I'm not little!" she snapped, completely ignoring the last part of the sentence she was replying to, refusing to acknowledge those words. _Of course we're not lovers!_

Two people walked out of the shadows of the trees, their backs illuminated by the blaze at their backs. They stopped side-by-side, facing Nami and the others. The man smirked at her. "This one has a _fiery_ temper," he drawled. "I like it."

The woman smirked as well and Sanji took a step forward. "You two do this?" he asked, glancing to the fire.

"Obviously," the woman replied smoothly.

Nami looked around unobtrusively. She expected to see the remains of barrels of gunpowder or something of the sort in the flames, but only the smoldering carcasses of the trees that had been consumed by the flames were visible. Immediately, she grew suspicious. _Especially considering the fact that we're in the Grand Line… _

Meanwhile, Sanji was still speaking with the two strangers. "What reason could you have for attacking an uninhabited island?"

"It's simple, really," the woman replied with an uncaring shrug. "There was a man here we wanted dead."

Nami was horrified to think that there was a corpse inside that burning wall of light, so she spoke to both distract herself and to get information. "You're Devil Fruit users, aren't you?"

The woman's smirk widened, revealing her perfectly white teeth. "Oh, you _are_ an observant one, aren't you?" she sneered. "Yes, we have Devil Fruit powers. Care for a demonstration?" She didn't wait for a reply, nor did she give them time to react. In a split second, she had lifted a large gun, aimed it at them, and fired three times. Two mouths stretched wide with laughter as three sets of thick metal restraints slammed into Nami, Sanji, and Zoro, pinning arms to sides and crushing legs together so that they couldn't move them without a great deal of pain. They were trapped. "Since these are steel," the woman said, "you'll have to melt them in the fire to get free. And by the time it melts… you'll be dead." She and her partner laughed again.

The man approached Nami and her struggling crewmates. "If you want…" he said slowly, "I'll make things a bit easier for you." He stomped on the ground hard and immediately a ring of fire exploded around them, hot and far too close for comfort. He stood in the flames, clearly unaffected. "Now all you have to do is fall," he told them. "Any direction's fine."

"Kota here can create flames through stomping," the woman explained unnecessarily. "Meanwhile, my power is both fixed and forever changing."

"What do you mean?" Sanji demanded.

"Depending on the season, I get a different set of abilities." She shouldered her gun. "Tell me, do you know what season it is?"

Nami frowned in thought. _Summer. Which means heat, rain, droughts, thunder, lighting… oh no. _

"It's such a shame you're wearing steel…" The woman raised her hand. Lightning raced through them and their restraints. Searing pain like nothing Nami had ever felt before caused her to cry out and fall heavily to her knees, trembling in agony. Sanji's knees weakened visibly as well, though he didn't fall. She couldn't see Zoro, who stood on Sanji's other side. The woman tutted at them. "Such poor fashion choices… Oh well. It's your own fault for getting involved in things that weren't any of your business." Her gaze flicked to Sanji's left. "Hey, Koto. He has weapons."

Koto nodded and stepped out of the flames to retrieve them, but Zoro dodged neatly to the side. Koto tried again, his hands making a swiping motion through the air, but Zoro just dodged again, returning to where he had originally been. Koto stomped in a fiery display of anger, forcing Zoro to jerk his leg away, lest he get burned. "Stop moving!" Koto commanded hotly.

"Don't touch my sword," Zoro replied with unfailing calm.

Nami grew puzzled by his response. _Why did he say "sword" when he has more than one? This Koto guy is trying to take them all, isn't he?_

Zoro stared calmly, his expression never changing, at Koto, whose eyes blazed with growing with growing anger. The fire-user signaled for his partner to subdue the swordsman but, though the other two were soundly electrocuted, he seemed… unaffected. It shouldn't have been possible. Currents of electricity ran through him and the metal that had him trapped, but he showed no signs of pain. In fact, he didn't even seem to notice that he was being attacked. Koto glared hard, barely holding onto reason as his temper reached peak levels. "How are you immune?! Are you a Devil Fruit user as well?!"

"No."

Sanji stared at Zoro, a frown marring his otherwise relatively calm expression. _Immune? Impossible. He's human. _

Nami fought not to let agonized tear fall from her watery eyes. She bit her lower lip tightly. She had never been in more in ever in her entire life. Every nerve was raked raw, her limbs trembled, the metal burned where it touched her skin… _If Zoro could only get one of his swords…! _He had learned how to cut steel, right?

The woman looked to Koto, suddenly looking concerned for the first time. "Hey, Koto… could he be the one Crocodile was talking about?"

Koto glanced back at her over his shoulder. "Perhaps."

"Oi," Sanji called, pulling their attention back to him. "What the hell are you talking about?" He cut a glance to Zoro and something unspoken passed between them. His gaze returned forward.

"Crocodile spoke briefly of a swordsman whom he suspected had the potential to destroy all of Baroque Works, himself included, single-handedly," the woman replied.

"No way!" Nami exclaimed. "That can't be possible!"

"But it is. Not that it matters to you, since you're about to die."

Muttering crossly to himself, Sanji glared at Koto and the woman. _Hurry up, you bastard…! _Then, as if in response to his thought, there was a loud slashing sound, closely followed by a second and a third, and, suddenly, three sets of restraints fell heavily t the ground with easily audible thuds. Sanji didn't take to time to wonder how Zoro had been able to move in his restraints, opting instead to merely be thankful for it for now. He'd get back at the stupid swordsman for taking so goddamn long later.

Zoro stood by with a sword in hand as Nami stood and Sanji tapped the toes of shoe on the grassy earth. They seemed eager to fight, perhaps out of revenge for being captured and tormented, but Zoro didn't share their feelings. He simply didn't care. He was only here because he'd been chosen to come. That was it. The island may have held a passing interest for him, and perhaps even the explosion, but not these people, and not this fight. These people, whoever they were, could barely even be considered a threat. So, with all the excitement of a child who had just been given a full day chores, he cut them down.

* * *

"I'm seriously fine, Chopper. Worry about Sanji instead, okay?"

"Nami, your burns are worse than his."

"But we were both electrocuted!"

"You were right by the fire, though."

Nami huffed but stopped arguing. She knew he was right, anyway. Besides, the medicine he was rubbing on her burns felt _so_ good… She sat on the main deck of the Going Merry, a crate acting as her chair while Chopper rubbed more medicine on one of her legs. The coolness of both the medicine and the late night breeze was a welcome relief to her hot and abused skin. The smack of a hand on the railing of the ship drew her attention to the side just as Luffy pulled himself on deck. "Oh, Sanji! Zoro! Nami! Where were you guys?" He grinned.

"Where were _we_?!" Sanji snapped, his expression of comical anger causing Luffy to laugh. "Where the hell were _you_?!"

"I found this cool lake-"

"We were trapped and you were out looking at a stupid _lake_?!"

Nami smiled to herself at their antics. _Those two, I swear… _

"Hey, Nami?" Chopper asked.

"Yes, Chopper?" she replied, looking down at him.

"Were the three of you all restrained in the same way?" he asked her, not looking up from his task.

She blinked in surprise. "Yes. Why?"

"Because, if that's true, then… somehow, Zoro isn't burned."

Doing her level best to remain calm, Nami lifted her gaze to look at Zoro, who was watching Sanji and Luffy quarrel with an impassive gaze. _Could what that man was saying be true? Could Zoro really be somehow immune to lightning…? _

* * *

**Posted 04-22-15.**


	4. Chapter 4

"Zoro, you're acting different."

Zoro cracked an eye open to look at Nami, who knelt by his side as he lay on his back, with his arms behind his head, on the rear deck of the ship. Without the use of words, he did his best to convey his reaction to her statement. She huffed at him, though whether it was for the lack of words in his response or for his response in generl, he had no idea.

"You haven't been yourself," she said, "ever since Alabasta."

_That_ triggered a memory, albeit a vague one, and he frowned minutely, trying to lay hold of the thing that eluded him. Over a month and still he couldn't…

Her next comment pulled him from his thoughts for now. "You're acting different," she insisted earnestly, as though desperate to make him understand her words.

A dispassionate assessment seemed to support her hypothesis, but he didn't see why it was so important. It hardly mattered. Despite what she and Chopper seemed to think, he was fine. There was nothing wrong with him. He wasn't injured. Wasn't that good enough?

Nami moved so that she was sitting on her knees beside him. "Look," she said, pointing. "See that? That's proof." He glanced to his hip, to the single white sword resting beside it. He met her gaze evenly. "You're supposed to you the three-sword style, right?" He responded with a one-shouldered shrug, neither confirming nor denying her statement. She huffed at him again. "You've _always_ used the three-sword style, so why suddenly switch to one sword?"

He thought about her question carefully for a few moments before merely shrugging again. Why _did_ he switch to one sword? He had no real reason for it. At least, none that he could name. There _was_ a reason, he supposed, he just didn't know what it was. It was possible that it should have bothered him, but it didn't. As with most things lately, he just didn't care. This fact seemed to bother _her_ greatly. However, any further dialogue between the two was interrupted when something small and hard hit Zoro in the forehead, causing him to blink, and bounced off, bouncing lightly on the deck and coming to a halt near Nami's knee.

She stared at it. "Huh?" Two slim fingers pinched it and lifted it into the air. "Wood?"

A few seconds later, several more pieces of wood fell onto the ship, closely followed by yet more pieces. They started off small, but as Nami and Zoro both looked up, a plank large enough to be a bench fell toward them. Nami shrieked and dove to the side while Zoro grabbed his sword and rolled in the opposite direction, coming to a stop in a crouch not far away. Another large piece of wood slammed into the deck near him and he looked up. What he saw surprised him, the strongest emotion he'd felt in a while, and, judging by Nami's scream, she was surprised. Or, more appropriately, she was shocked. Similar cries and shouts of alarm answered Nami as a huge deteriorating galleon slammed into the water beside their, by comparison, tiny ship with enough destructive force to cause a tidal wave. Thankfully, however, the sea seemed to have taken pity on them for, while the waves they endured were bad, no tidal wave came.

"Hold on to the ship!" Sanji shouted over the roar of the raging water. "Everybody hang on!"

A skeleton fell from the sky and smacked Usopp full in the face, embracing him with long-dead limbs as its head lolled back with its mouth wide open. The marksman let out an impressively high-pitched scream and flung it away. "_B-B-B-Bones_!"

Nami's answering shriek was incredibly loud, and its pitch was enough to make Zoro wince. All this noise was becoming too much. "Don't fling them _this_ way!" she wailed, tossing them back at Usopp.

"_Bones_!"

"Not _this_ way!'

"Stop throwing them back!"

"Stop throwing them _here_!"

(-)

When it was finally over, Zoro stood and stared impassively with crossed arms at the gigantic wreckage slowly sinking beneath the waves. Somewhere behind him Chopper demanded, "Why did a ship fall out of the sky?!"

"It's impossible!" Usopp shouted. "There's nothing up there!"

"Oh no…" Nami moaned suddenly, pulling Zoro's attention attention back to her.

"What is it, Nami-san?" Sanji asked, stepping up to her side.

"Our Log Pose," she said in a tone of complete despair. "It's broken…"

Sanji frowned. "Broken?" Usopp began crying about how doomed they were.

"Look," Nami invited, pointing at the device on her wrist. "See? It's only pointing up, instead of at the next island like it's supposed to."

"There _is_ an island up there." Zoro's gaze slid to Robin. He didn't exactly know if he trusted her yet, but he acknowledged her obvious intelligence. If anyone would know about these things, it would be her.

"An island?!" Luffy exclaimed, grinning so widely that he face almost seemed like it would be split in two.

Robin nodded with a smile, the sort of mysterious smile that meant she knew a secret. "The Sky Island."

That made Zoro freeze involuntarily. His teeth gritted together so hard it almost hurt, his lips parting just enough to reveal the barest hints of white. "I don't think I believe it," Sanji muttered. "It doesn't make any sense."

"The Log Pose is pointing up," Robin said. "We must never doubt the Log Pose." She looked to Zoro for some reason he couldn't quite figure out. "There _is_ an island up there."

Zoro looked away and gazed into the sky. Yes, it was there. He was sure of it. The only thing he _wasn't_ sure of was _why_ he knew this, and why the name "Sky Island" sounded so familiar.

For the next half an hour, Robin pieced together the skull of the skeleton and looked a brief history of the ship, the St. Briss from some South Blue kingdom. Meanwhile, Luffy and Usopp set out to explore the wreckage of the ship which, according to Robin, had first set sail around 208 years ago. Zoro was uninterested in these affairs and soon became lost in thought, until Luffy and Usopp's cries alerted the crew of the duo's plight. Glancing over, Zoro quickly discovered that the ship had completely sunk… and everyone knew that Luffy couldn't swim. He was about ready to intervene when Sanji swore softly, kicked his shoes off, and dove down into the water to save them.

When the cook pulled the two of them up and before anyone could hit them on the head in reprimand, Luffy exclaimed excitedly,"I did it, everyone! Look what I found!" He extended his arms to normal langth and separated his hands, opening the paper he held in them. For the second time that day, Zoro tensed. In his captain's hands was a complex and highly detailed map of an island surrounded by clouds and with two smaller islands near it. He didn't need to read the name printed in large, bold letters on the upper left hand corner of the map to recognize the place being depicted.

_The Sky Island… Skypiea._

* * *

**Posted 04-23-15.**


	5. Chapter 5

Zoro watched as Luffy and Sanji donned ridiculous diving suits crafted from barrels. Usopp stood by them and patted the side of Sanji's barrel. "There are no flaws in my design!" he boasted proudly, grinning widely at himself. Zoro only barely listened as the sniper quickly explained how the two divers could communicate with the ship from in the barrels.

Nami approached the three of them with her hands on her hips. She glanced to both Sanji and Luffy in turn before addressing them together. "Ready to go?"

Sanji just nodded while Luffy threw his arms into the air with an exclamation of, "Yeah!"

"Get going then!" Nami commanded, though with a smile, as she pointed at the sea.

She, Usopp, and Chopper, went to man the strange contraption that fed the air hoses to the two males while Sanji and Luffy dove under the waves. Seconds later, Luffy's voice reached their ears. "_Cool_! Sea snakes!"

"Did we dive into a nest or something?" Sanji demanded, not sounding anywhere near as thrilled as their captain.

While Nami replied to them, shouting for them to stay focused, Zoro stared off into the clouds. He probably could have ignored Robin's presence by his side… had she not decided to speak. "What Crocodile said during your fight with him…" she started slowly.

"Don't," he cut in sharply. He remembered full well what Crocodile had said, and he had no desire to have it brought up again.

"This is important." He turned his head slightly to look at her. "You don't remember what happened after that conversation, do you?"

No, he didn't, and he was pretty sure she knew that. The very next thing he remembered after that conversation was waking up, standing over Crocodile's dead body. After that, he'd grabbed Luffy, hauled his rubber butt out of the collapsing underground tomb or whatever the hell it was, gone back inside for whatever reason, grabbed Robin and hauled her out of trouble as well, retrieved Luffy, and then, leaving Robin behind, he'd headed back to the others. Not long after stumbling across Nami, everything went black. He assumed that that was when he'd collapsed. Beyond that, that whole portaion of the day was a blank. He remembered nothing of the fight. "What's it matter?" he finally asked.

"It does," she replied solemnly.

"It doesn't," he muttered.

"It does," she insisted.

"It doesn't."

She was quiet for a moment before posing an entirely new question. "What is the name of the Sky Island?"

"Skypiea," he replied immediately. He frowned then, and said, "It said that on the map."

She smiled. "You'd be surprised what a person can learn through looking into another's eyes." She must have seen his puzzlement for she then added, "You knew what it was called before even looking at the map. I could see it in your eyes."

"Hmph," he murmured somewhat moodily, looking away. He didn't like this conversation at all, and he wished that it would just end. He didn't understand why she'd brought it up in the first place.

"I wasn't completely unconscious," she said suddenly, causing him to look back to her sharply. "I saw what happened to you in there."

He stared at her for a long moment, trying to decide whether or not he actually wanted to know. Finally, he looked away again. "I don't care what happened." With that, he turned and walked away.

* * *

_We'll have to go to Jaya. That's the key to getting to the Sky Island. _A soft knock on Nami's door pulled her from her thoughts. She looked up from the papers on her desk and turned slightly in her chair. "Come in."

The door opened and Robin stepped in. "May I speak with you?"

Nami blinked. "Of course." Robin closed the door softly and sat down on the bed. She seemed to be trying to gather her thoughts, so Nami stayed quiet. After a few minutes of silence Robin seemed ready to speak, but another knock interrupted her before she could even begin. Nami sighed. "Come in."

Sanji entered with a tray in hand and a wide smile on his face. "I brought drinks!" he announced cheerily, though that mood quickly faltered when he saw Robin's serious expression. "What's wrong?"

Robin gestured with a slow sweep of an upraised palm for him to sit down. "You should probably hear this as well."

With a bemused glance at Nami, he set the tray down on her desk and sat down against her closed door. Nami looked back to Robin. "What do you need to speak with us about?" she asked.

Robin met her gaze evenly, though there was a hint of something in her gaze that she didn't seem willing to admit to. It wasn't uncertainty. Nami wasn't sure what it was. "I know what happened to Zoro."

Nami and Sanji both froze as they stared at her in shock. Sanji, however, recovered quickly. "How?"

"I was there," Robin began, "when the fight between Luffy and Crocodile began. I had been stabbed by Crocodile, but I was conscious." Nami frowned. She'd heard of how the other woman had been attacked for her betrayal f the Warlord. "Severl minutes into the fight, Crocodile used a smaller hook concealed underneath the gold one he wore to poison Luffy." The fact that Luffy had been poisoned was common knowledge as well. Chopper, as well as everyone else, had been quite concerned over the severity of the poison. "Luffy managed to stay awake for a few minutes longer, but he eventually collapsed."

"He only lasted a few minutes?" Sanji frowned.

"The poison was very strong," she replied. He nodded, and she continued. "Just as Crocodile was about to deal the final blow, your swordsman rushed in and stopped the hook with one of his swords."

"He'd said that he had a bad feeling," Nami helpfully supplied. "I guess he sensed that Luffy was in danger."

"That guy is perceptive," Sanji conceded, "I'll give him that much."

Looking down into her lap and staring at her hands, Robin continued as though she had never been interrupted. "As the fight progressed, Zoro quickly grew more and more… angry."

Sanji scoffed. "That's nothing new. He loses his temper all the time." Despite his word, however, Sanji couldn't quite keep the frown off of his face, hinting at how troubled he was. _It's true that he loses his temper all the time, but… that never really happened during battle. _

"Or at least he used to," Nami amended. Then she turned to look at him. "Fr that matter, you do the same thing." Sanji seemed prepared to ignore that comment, so Nami huffed and returned her attention to Robin. "Why is this so important?" she asked.

"Since Alabasta, we have all observed changes in his behavior and, perhaps, even his personality," Robin answered. "Correct?"

"Yes," Nami nodded. That was the reason why she was so worried all the time nowadays. She swore she was going to have a stress-related breakdown or something if this kept up.

"Those changes all began when his anger reached a breaking point during that fight." The tension and seriousness in the room was so sharp that it was almost palpable. "Something in him snapped and, in that moment, when that happened, he changed." She paused, then added, "It was more than just his behavior."

"What do you mean?" Sanji demanded.

"At one point during the fight, Crocodile tried to distract Zoro by pointing out how badly injured Luffy was." Sanji snorted then, clearly communicating how unlikely he thought it was that such a tactic would work. "However, when Zoro glanced at Luffy… the look in his eyes… it was as if Zoro didn't recognize Luffy. As though he had no idea who Luffy was."

Sanji visibly tensed and Nami's eyes widened, though a horrified frown kept them from truly opening all the way. "But that's not possible!" Nami exclaimed. "Zoro's been with Luffy the longest, so of course he'd recognize-"

"But he didn't," Robin cut in smoothly.

Sanji gritted his teeth. "You're sure?'

She nodded once. "Yes."

He sighed heavily, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the door. "Damn…"

"There was one more change," Robin said after a moment's pause, prompting the cook to open his eyes once more. Once she had their attention once more, she continued speaking, her gaze shifting inward. "When he snapped, there was a physical change as well."

"Physical?" Nami asked quietly. She almost didn't want to know… but she had to. It would never leave her alone otherwise.

Robin nodded again. "His eyes changed."

"Changed _how_?" Sanji demanded.

"His pupils elongated," she said. "They became slits, like an animal's." Sanji and Nami's own eyes widened as Robin murmured, "His eyes were no longer human."

Long, impossibly tense moments of silence passed before Sanji just burst out," Why the hell didn't you tell us sooner?!"

Nami jumped, shocked by his outburst, and turned her wide-eyed gaze on him. _Sanji never yells at women…!_

Without waiting for a response, Sanji stood and, throwing the door open so hard that it slammed into the wall, he stormed off into the night.

* * *

**Posted 04-25-15.**


	6. Chapter 6

Sani stormed out of Nami's room, heedless of the loud bang of the door hitting the wall, and shoved a hand into his pocket. Seconds later, he pulled out a cigarette and bit it between his teeth so hard that he was surprised that it didn't split in two. Lighting it, he took a moment to breathe and exhaled slowly, watching the smoke rising before his face. His teeth were clenched together so hard that his jaw hurt, but he couldn't seem to _un_clench them. He took another breath and looked up to the crow's nest. The sword sticking up over the side gave away who was on watch tonight, though Sanji had already known. Decisin made, he walked over and climbed up to join the swordsman.

Zoro didn't even bother to acknowledge the cook's presence. He sat cross-legged, reclining against the circle of wood surrounding the pillar with his arms behind his head. His eyes were closed, but Sanji knew he wasn't asleep. Sanji sat down a couple feet away, also placing his back against the wood. One leg rested as though he was going to sit cross-legged while the other remained propped up and bent at the knee. Once he was situated, he spoke. "Oi." Zoro cracked his right eye open slightly to look at him, but said nothing. "I've got a question for you."

Both of Zoro's eyes opened then and he regared Sanji steadily for a moment. "What?"

"What the hell happened in Alabasta?"

Zoro immediately became guarded, even visibly so. "Why?"

"Just answer the question."

"It doesn't matter."

"The hell it doesn't." Zoro frowned and closed his eyes. Dismissive. Sanji struggled to hold onto some sliver of patience. "I know you're not an idiot, Zoro. You know why this is important."

Zoro made a sound then, but Sanji couldn't identify what it meant. "I don't care."

"You should."

"Whatever."

Sanji gritted his teeth again. _Why must he be so difficult? _He sighed, releasing a breath of smoke, and closed his eyes as well. He opened them again after a few minutes of silence to say something, but was stopped when Zoro's eyes snapped open with sudden intensity and he stood, grabbing his sword in one hand. Sanji frowned at him. "What is it?"

Zoro's grip tightened visibly on the sheath. "Something's coming."

"Huh?" Sanji stood and turned to follow Zoro's gaze, which was fixed on the ocean somewhere behind the cook. Sanji scanned the waves, but nothing in particular caught his eye. "I don't see anyth-" He cut himself off a second later when, out of nowhere, a giant Sea King emerged from the black depths of the ocean. His mouth dropped open in shock and his cigarette fell out of it. Large black eyes glared down at them. Gleaming white teeth that were bigger than he was grinned with malicious intent. Zoro's sword snapped out of its sheath. Sanji turned to look at him. "Oi, don't do anything rash."

"Hope you enjoy being a snack, then," Zoro replied calmly, his gaze never leaving the beast above.

"Tch!" Sanji exclaimed. "Whatever. Just don't blame me when you get eaten." Not that Sanji believed that Zoro would actually lose this fight. In fact, he was certain that the swordsman would win. Easily. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Zoro had actually gotten quite a bit stronger since Alabasta. So he stayed behind to watch, and to see if he was right.

Zoro didn't respond to Sanji's comment, not that Sanji had really expected him to, and instead jumped up and attacked. Steel hit teeth with a clang, white on white. Zoro didn't seem bothered by the collision, but the Sea King seemed to immediately regret blocking with its teeth as said teeth suddenly cracked ominously. Unfazed, seeming to just not care, the swordsman sliced again. Immediately Sanji saw a thin, horizontal white line pass through the creature's neck. Seconds later, the head simply fell off, falling heavily back into the sea with a watery crash. The body soon followed, creating waves that moved the ship, if only somewhat. Zoro landed neatly on the railing of the main deck just feet away from where the corpse was slowly disappearing.

Sanji clutched the railing of the crow's nest in a white-knuckles grip. The tightness of it and the tension in his hands made them start to shake. They hurt, but he barely even noticed. His attention was focused solely on the swordsman, who still stood where he had been before, staring impassively into the sea. Sanji gritted his teeth so hard that he could hear the grinding loudly in his head. He couldn't be sure, but he thought that for a moment he had seen… _His eyes… during that last attack, for a moment… they…_ _changed… _

* * *

Sanji and Robin sat in the kitchen. They were the last two sitting at the table after breakfast. For once, even Zoro had come in and eaten, though he hadn't eaten much. Now everyone else was outside while these two remained. Sanji scratched absently at the wood while Robin read a book with a gold, highly decorative cover. Finally, Sanji broke the almost peaceable silence that had settled between them. "Last night… why didn't you answer Nami-san's question?"

"Which one?" Robin inquired evenly, never looking up from the old pages of her book.

He sighed, uncertain if he really wanted the answer to this question. Still, he straightened and asked, "What was it that Crocodile said to Zoro?"

"Ah." She was silent for a moment before replying simply, "I didn't answer because Zoro doesn't want it brought up."

"He said he doesn't care about what happened," Sanji said.

"You know that isn't true," she answered quietly.

"Yeah…" he admitted slowly. "He cares. At least a little."

Robin closed her book gently and set it down, fixing Sanji with a serious look. "I believe that it would not be wise to bring that conversation up with him."

Sanji frowned. "Why not?"

"Do you remember what I told you last night?" she asked in response.

"Yeah," he replied immediately. "You said that, as a result of the conversation with Crocodile, Zoro got really angry and- Oh. Damn."

Robin nodded once. "If he is reminded of what happened, he may become angry again, perhaps even against his will. If that happens, another radical change like the one from before may occur again." She lifted her head slightly, still giving him that same serious look. "Are you prepared to see your crewmate and friend change even further?"

"No." Sanji stood with a scrape of the chair against the floor and walked to the closed door. He opened it to leave, but paused in the doorway. "And he's not my friend." With that, he walked out.

* * *

The midmorning sun was bright and warm on the main deck and Sanji took a moment to savor it… only to be interrupted when Zoro suddenly jumped down from the crow's nest, landing lightly in a crouch not far from it. He stood and crossed his arms, staring straight ahead at the vast expanse of ocean before the ship. Sanji followed his gaze and searched for a moment before turning his head slightly and saying, "Oi, Nami, there's an island."

The navigator, who had been walking by while looking down at a map, looked up at him. "Oh? Is there?" She squinted at the small shape in the distance. Then, with a glance at Zoro, she huffed. "He's supposed to be on watch. Why didn't he tell someone?"

"Well…." Sanji replied thoughtfully. "He did. Sort of."

Nami shrugged but otherwise didn't reply to that statement. "Go tell the others, will you? Wait, no, just the boys," she amended. "I'll get Robin. I'm headed to the kitchen anyway."

He nodded and they went their separate ways. Heading to the back deck, he soon spotted Usopp and Luffy sitting side-by-side on the ship's railing with their fishing rods in hand while Chopper watched.

"Oohh! I got a bite!" Luffy exclaimed, eyes and smile wide.

"Me too!" Usopp replied with an equally large grin.

"Really?!" Chopper gasped in awe.

The two older males pulled hard. Their lines came up in a tangled mess. Neither had a fish. Usopp jumped to his feet on the railing. "How'd you get your line tangled up with mine?!" he demanded furiously.

"I didn't do it!" Luffy shouted back, also jumping up.

Sanji decided to intervene before a fight could begin. "Oi."

All three heads turned to face him. "Huh?"

"Zoro found an island."

Luffy's ridiculously wide grin returned. "Awesome!" He raced to the front of the ship with Usopp and Chopper close behind.

Sanji followed behind more slowly, not feeling any sort of rush. He would never quite understand Luffy's unfailing excitement over every new island. They found islands all the time, right? _Then again… this is Luffy. I think we'd have to be concerned if he wasn't excited over something like this. _

When Sanji reached the others, Luffy was standing at the railing and gaping at the island, which was now much closer than it had been just a few minutes ago. "Awesome…!" Luffy reached out a hand to slap Zoro on the back. "Good job, Zoro!" Zoro neatly sidestepped the hand, his gaze never leaving the island, but Luffy didn't even seem to notice, obviously unconcerned by his crewmate's evasion. "So cool… so cool…"

"Is this Jaya?" Usopp asked, leaning on the palms of his hands on the railing.

"I think so," Nami replied.

"It's so big!" Chopper exclaimed.

"It's _huge_!" Luffy agreed, leaning farther forward.

"Wow!" Usopp said, also leaning farther over the railing. "Look at all thse big ships!" He, Luffy, Chopper, and even Nami exulted over the ships, but their elation was short-lived.

"Those are pirate ships."

Sanji stepped up to Zoro's side. "You sure?"

Zoro spared him a glance. "Yes."

"But pirate ships don't just dock in plain sight like that," Usopp frowned.

Zoro cast him a look, but his expression remained unreadable. "Look at the flags," he finally said after a long moment."

Chopper seemed to decide to take advantage of the fact that Zoro was speaking more than usual and did as they were told. Squinting hard at a few of the ships, he did his best to make out any details on the flags. "Skulls and crossbones… Those are definitely pirate flags."

Sanji had taken Zoro at his word, but the confirmation was still a bit unsettling. Luffy, however, grew even more excited while Usopp turned white. "So… this is a… pirate town."

Robin answered. "It would seem so."

"We'll have to be extra careful, then," Nami sighed. "So who's going ashore?" She glanced knowingly to Usopp. "You're staying?"

Usopp suddenly was sitting against the railing with his knees hugged up to his chest. "Y-Y-Yes."

"M-M-Me t-t-to," Chopper stammered from where he sat beside Usopp.

Nami sighed again. "Fine. Anyone else?"

"I will stay as well," Robin replied.

Nami nodded her approval. "Good. You can help defend the ship in case of an attack." Not long after this was decided, they docked the ship and climbed off. Luffy immediately took off on his own, running into the crowd. Nami fought the urge to groan. "Sanji, go with him, will you?" she asked, using the voice she only used when she wanted Sanji to do something for her that she didn't want to do.

Despite Sanji's unusually serious mood lately, her voice had an immediately affect on him. "Hai, Nami-_swan_!" With that, he raced off after the captian.

Nami shook her head in amusement as she watched him disappear into the crown after Luffy. Once they were gone, she turned to Zoro. "Will you come with me? I don't trust these people." He glanced to her, then to the crowd, then looked back to her. A shruf served as his response to her request, and she took it as the affirmation she sought. Smiling softly at him in thanks, she turned her attention to the town.

Walking side by side, they moved through the town. _This place sure is… erm… lively. _All around people were laughing, shouting, drinking, running around, arguing, fighting… _I should've made those two swear not to get into any trouble. We can't afford to get kicked out of here. We need information. _She didn't think Zoro would be a problem, however, so she said nothing to him.

Looking around, her eyes soon landed on a noisy pub. From her experience, pubs were a good place for gathering information, even if that information was often liberally mixed with rumors. Turning, she tilted her head to catch her silent guard's eye. "What about that place?" His gaze slid to the pub's doors just as a severely drunken man stumbled out, laughing and singing loudly to himself all the while. With another shrug, Zoro just walked in, never giving Nami the chance to try to interpret his constant shrugs. Huffing softly, she followed after him.

The inside of the pub was different from the outside, in that _everyone_ inside was drunk. Outside, it was just _most_ people. The inside was also dim and crowded. Dust floated visibly in the air. The only real light came in from the filthy circular windows. The floorboards creaked and groaned as they struggled to support the weight of so many people. The whole place just seemed… old.

All around men drank as though they had been trapped in the driest of deserts for years and had only now found their way to this pathetic little pub. There was laughing, screaming, arguing, fist-fighting, howls, bellows, and virtually every other drunken sound Nami could think of echoing around her. As far as sheer noise went, this place was worse than the streets had been. Nami forced herself not to shrink away from the countless cat-calls that erupted from the crowds around her.

"Kekeke! What a cute little doll!"

"Come over here, babe!"

"Hey! Ditch your pal and come join us, instead!"

"We'll treat you _real_ swell!"

"Come have a drink!"

"Look over here, sweetheart! Come meet your future husband!"

Nami was intensely grateful when Zoro unobtrusively moved to her side, offering her his silent support. She smiled softly at him for the second time that day. "Thank you," she whispered." He didn't say anything, but then, she was fairly used to his silences by now. His situation, his changes, were no less concerning than they had been before, but it was less difficult to deal with by this point. _It helps that we know what happened to him, even if we don't know why it happened. For that matter, we don't even really know how it happened, either. How did his anger cause such a change? _She frowned at the ground. _Come to think of it… Although he has gotten angry before in the past, he's never gotten truly angry. It sounds odd, but the more I think about it, the more I realize it's true. The anger he's displayed in the past was more… irritation than actual anger. _

She and Zoro approached the bartender at the counter as the man was drying a glass. "What?" he asked brusquely, never looking up.

Before she even had a chance to answer, a bottle sailed across the room, forcing both her and Zoro to duck. "Why does this have to be a pirate town?" she groaned to herself.

"This town relies on the rich pirates who are willing to blow all their money on meaningless things." Brown eyes trailed slowly from one side of the room to the other, taking everything in. "Like alcohol."

Nami sighed and leaned on the counter. "I could do without all these creeps treating me like a beautiful object."

"They're the reason why it's mostly men here."

"I can believe that. They act half-starved."

"They do."

She sighed again, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again and launching into business. "What do you know about Skypiea?"

The bartender blinked. "Skypiea?"

Nami nodded. "Yes. What do you know about it?"

"Nothing," the man replied. "What is it?"

"Well…" She floundered for a moment, then said, "It's also called the Sky Island."

That seemed to earn some recognition. "That island isn't real," he told her bluntly.

"But the Log Pose was pointing up," she insisted.

"There are weird areas of the sea everywhere," he replied dismissively, "especially here in the Grand Line."

"But-!" Her reply was cut short by the loud clang of steel on steel behind her. Alarmed, she whirled around, eyes widened when she immediately found herself face-to-face with two swords. She turned her head to the right, eyes traveling up the length of one sword to land on Zoro, whose impassive gaze was locked on his opponent. A new voice caused her to look straight ahead at an unfamiliar man.

"The Sky Island is _definitely_ real!" the man exclaimed in mocking tones. "Isn't that right?!" Howls of laughter erupted from the crowds.

"The Sky Island?"

"This girl's nuts!"

"Here, come have another drink! You're obviously drunk off your ass already!"

Nami fought down the heat rising in her face. "Yeah, I agree. You're drunk," the man with the sword said. "Drunk on a dream. Guess what! Dreams don't come true! Out of the corner of her eye, Nami saw Zoro's eyes narrow subtly. "The age where pirates dream will end!" the man continued loudly. "And when that end comes, there will be no need for useless dreamers like you!"

Nearby, fearful whispers reached her ears. "That's Bellamy… Hyena Bellamy!"

"He has a fifty-five million Beri bounty…"

Nami's eyes widened. _F… Fifty-five… million…?_

Zoro, however, seemed unconcerned. As usual, he seemed completely calm despite the present danger. Bellamy gave him a hard look, then burst into a fit of psychotic laughter. "Sarkies!" he called loudly. "Come here!"

A man with shoulder-length bluish-white hair and a long white fur coat walked up to them. He also wore purple glasses, a necklace, and red and white vertically striped pants. "Yes?"

"Show me those wanted posters again." The other man, Sarkies presumably, pulled a small stack of about ten or so papers out of his coat and handed them to Ballamy. Bellamy shuffled through the pile with his free hand, tossing most of them carelessly onto the floor as he did so, until he seemed to find the one he wanted. "I thought I recognized your face… Pirate Zoro of the East Blue." He turned a poster around, revealing a picture Zoro's face and the bounty beneath it.

Nami's eyes went wide again. _Sixty million?!_

Ballamy dropped Zoro's poster and one other before showing the last one left in his hand. "And this is your captain… Another worthless dreamer, worth seventy-million berries." He laughed and dropped the poster onto the floor with the others. "Monkey D. Luffy! The man who'' be king of the pirates! Ain't that right?!"

Zoro's subtle frown deepened and something subtle in the air changed around him. Nami, however, barely noticed it as she glared at the two laughing men before her. _Why, they…! _

"Those posters are obviously fakes!" Bellamy exclaimed after a moment, grinning triumphantly at Zoro. "There's no way small fry like you can be worth so much!"

"Care to find out?' Zoro asked quietly.

Nami stared in shock at Zoro's calm face before her mind caught up to the situation. "N-No!" she stammered at him, poised to intervene, knowing that there was no way he'd cut her. "We can't get kicked out of this town!"

"We won't."

"But-!"

"Have you looked around?" he asked suddenly, taking her by surprise, his eyes on her. When she didn't reply, his gaze slid back to Bellamy. "A town full of pirates won't care if a couple of pirates fight." With that, he slashed out with his sword, knocking Bellamy back with ease. A second slash and the Bellamy's sword snapped like a twig. Then, in an unexpected move, Zoro sheathed his sword with a snap and, with a single powerful kick to the stomach, he sent Bellamy flying through a wall.

Nami stared at Zoro in shock. "How did you _do_ that?!" she demanded almost angrily. He didn't respond, instead just silently watching as Bellamy slowly picked himself up.

"_Why you_!" Sarkies shouted in fury, lunging for Zoro, blade drawn.

Zoro ducked and his fist shot out, connecting audibly with Sarkies's gut. The breath left Sarkies forcefully and he doubled over, coughing up a bit of blood. Not wasting any time, Zoro grabbed the other man's blade and, with a second blow from his fist, he sent Sarkies flying in much the same way as he had Bellamy. He then threw the blade so that it spun in the air, its flight ending seconds later when it embedded itself in the wall by Sarkies's head, making the man wince. Meanwhile, Bellamy toppled over, seeming to have lost consciousness. Apparently finished, Zoro turned and left the pub, disappearing into the light outside.

Nami was shocked to the point where she couldn't move. She couldn't believe he'd lashed out like that. _And over what? _She was about to run and catch up to him, demand some answers, when the bartender's voice behind her caught her attention.

"You people's are the real deal, aren't you?"

She turned around to face him. "Huh?"

"Real pirates fight for the right to dream and the ability to make those dreams come true. They don't scoff, even at the dreams of others. They fight to protect those things."

Nami thought that over for a moment, and her thoughts inevitably traveled to her own motley crew. _Each of us has our own dream, but we're all willing to risk it and out lives for the dreams of our friends. _She smiled softly to herself at this revelation. "Yes. I suppose it's true."

The bartender looked around, distaste plain on his face. "The people here… they aren't dreamers. They laugh at the very thought of having dreams. In that sense, they aren't real pirates. They never will be."

"Good," Nami muttered. "Wouldn't want any of those hotheads soiling the reputations of us real pirates."

This caused the bartender to smirk faintly, but only for a moment. "There's another man who's like you."

"How so?" she asked.

"He dreams."

"A lot of people do that."

"Not here."

"True."

"He's different."

"How?"

"He dreams… of the Sky Island."

* * *

**This ones a bit long-winded. Posted 04-26-15.**


	7. Chapter 7

Zoro walked through the busy town, deep in thought and paying little attention to the people around him. He didn't know exactly what had caused his violent outburst earlier. It was just something about what the man, Bellamy, had said… and the way he'd smelled…He paused, gave that some thought, then shook his head and continued on. As he walked past a group of men sitting on crates and drinking, the sickly sweet smell of whatever liquor they were drinking hit him full-force and he wrinkled his nose slightly in distaste. _Disgusting. _All around him the smell of alcohol permeated the air. Bitter, rich, sweet, tangy, all of it smelled awful, and it was giving him a headache. Why these smells were so strong to him all of a sudden he truly had no idea. All he knew was that he'd gotten angry, if only somewhat, and had subsequently gotten into a fight. After that, everything had started smelling much stronger than it usually did. And all this alcohol in the air was _really_ giving him a headache. That, coupled with the smell of cigarettes…

Hat gave him another pause. _Cigarettes… spices… cologne… _The distinct trail seemed to go around the corner he'd been about to turn, so he went the opposite direction instead. He had no desire to deal with the cook today.

It wasn't until several minutes (not to mention turns) later that he realized that the trail he'd been avoiding had looped around several buildings in a sort of crude imitation of a circle and was now headed toward him. He suppressed a sigh and, moments later, Sanji came into view. The cook immediately glared at him, though Zoro was hard-pressed to tell why the cook was irritated with him this time. "Where's Nami? Wasn't she with you, shit-head?"

Zoro ignored the barb as being merely empty words and blinked at the blonde man. "At the ship," he replied simply. "With Luffy."

Sanji frowned at that. "How'd you know Luffy was there?"

Zoro wasn't about to try to explain how strongly Luffy smelled of the meats he loved so well, so he opted to remain silent instead, holding Sanji's gaze steadily and not offering any sort of an answer. Still, despite his calm visage, his nose was slightly wrinkled once again. _He still stinks. _The fresh cigarette in the cook's mouth was most definitely _not_ helping.

"Fine, don't answer," Sanji said suddenly, visibly even more irritated than he had been initially. He might have been tempted to give vent to his anger as well, had someone not interrupted the moment.

"There you are! Bastard!" Zoro turned halfway around and gazed over his right shoulder to see one of the men from the bar, Sarkies, marching up to him furiously with his blade in hand. "Asshole!" Sarkies shouted. "You'll pay for what you did!"

Zoro hadn't used as much strength on Sarkies as he had Bellamy, but he was now regretting that. He was starting to think that he should have knocked them _both_ unconscious and been done with it, but Sarkies hadn't seemed like much of a threat at the time. He still didn't, really.

"Oi, what the hell did you do?" Sanji demanded. Zoro could feel the other man glaring daggers into the back of his head, but he ignored it.

"He beat up my captain!" Sarkies exclaimed, so furious that his voice cracked under the stress. "Bellamy could have died!"

Zoro personally thought that that was overdramatic, and an exaggeration, but Sanji seemed to have taken the man's words seriously. "What the hell did you do that for?!" he shouted. "Are you _trying_ to get us kicked off this island, shitty marimo?!"

That about did it. Zoro had almost managed to push aside his anger during his time alone, bury it in some dark place where it hopefully couldn't escape from, but he could feel it resurfacing now, and very fast. He closed his eyes, frowning deeply as he struggled to maintain control.

""How stupid can you _be_?!" Sanji continued, his tirade seeming far from complete. "We can't get information if we get kicked off this island because you decided to cause problems, you idiot!"

That was it. Zoro couldn't take it anymore. He whirled around, moving so fast that his movement was a blur, seemingly even to Sanji's highly trained eyes, and, for the first time since Alabasta, he truly lost his temper. "Maybe _you_ would like to prevent her head from getting chopped off next time!" The sound of movement behind him alerted him to his danger and he whirled again. This time, the blow he delivered to Sarkies with his fist was probably enough to kill him a couple times over. However, Zoro was by no means in the mood to care. Not that he would have cared anyway, even if he had been in a relatively good mood. Angry and troubled by the sudden surge of power he'd felt just moments before, he watched for barely a moment as Sarkies's body made a deep gouge in the ground before turning away. Then, gritting his teeth together so tightly that they hurt, he stalked off, struggling to understand what the hell had just happened to him.

(-)

_Stupid marimo and his stupid swords and his stupid attitude and his stupid… _Sanji stopped grumbling to himself long enough to grit his teeth and blow out a heavy puff of smoke. Sure hands gripped the rope ladder of the Going Merry and he hauled himself up with ease, climbing over the railing once he reached it and brushing himself off once he was standing on the deck. He glared pointlessly at the small clouds of dust and dirt that came off his jacket, product of his excursion in the filthy town. Befre he could even start to consider getting a head start on his laundry, a voice pulled him from his thoughts.

"Oh! Sanji! You're back!"

Sanji turned see Nami walking up to him with Robin in tow, a map in her hands. "Yeah," he muttered in reply. He wasn't in the mood to deal with people, even these people were the two women he treasured the most.

Nami's relatively cheery expression faltered somewhat at his tone, but she quickly recovered, pulling a mask on to hide her reaction. Thankfully, she said nothing about his mood. "Where's Zoro?" she asked instead, looking around and then leaning to peer behind him as though the swordsman could possibly have hidden himself behind the cook.

"Not back yet?" he inquired in mild surprise. It had been a god couple of hours since their fight, if it could be called that, and he had fully expected the swordsman to have returned to the ship by now. Nami shoom her head. "Did Lufffy at least come back like I told him to?" He knew that Zoro had said that both Luffy and Nami were at the ship, but there was now way the moss-head could have known that without actually going to the ship, something Sanji doubted Zoro had done.

"Yes," Robin answered, pointing to where he stood with Usopp in the crow's nest, grinning and pointing while Usopp squinted to see something, using a his hand as a visor over his eyes.

"Do you know where Zoro is?" Nami asked him suddenly, pulling his attention back. "The sooner he comes back, the sooner we can go."

"Go?" he asked, for some reason not following her train of thought.

"Yes," she nodded. "I found some information earlier when Zoro and I were at a pub. Well, after he left, anyway."

Sanji frowned. _So was Nami the "her" he was talking about earlier? _He pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and told her, "I haven't seen that shitty marimo in a while, so I don't know where he is."

Immediately Nami's eyes narrowed at the nickname, one that he only called Zoro when they were fighting, which used to be always. "You two were fighting, weren't you?" she demanded.

Sanji was far too irritated right now to think about the logic of admitting such things to her. "Yeah. So what?"

Just like that, Nami's famous temper reared its ugly head. Clutching her map tightly in one fist, she practically breathed fire at him for his actions and lack of concern regarding them. "_Do. Not. Fight _with him! What the hell are you trying to do?!"

For only the second time in perhaps his entire life, Sanji had no quarrels about fighting with a woman. "He was _already_ angry! That wasn't my fault!"

"I _know_ that _that_ wasn't your fault! I _know_ that he was angry already! I was _there_ when he beat the living crap out of a man with a fifty-five million Beri bounty on his head!"

Sanji's frown deepened. "The hell? Fifty-five million?"

Nami nodded, her voice also lowering now that his had. "Yeah, a man named Bellamy. Oh, and some guy named Sarkies or something like that."

"Who the hell are they?"

"I don't know. A crazy man with blonde hair and a man with purple shades and a fur coat."

Sanji ground his teeth together. "That guy in the fur coat was there when we started fighting," he muttered. "Zoro about killed him before stalking off somewhere."

"Sanji," Robin said suddenly, "while I understand that you were not at fault for making him angry initially, fights between the two of you tend to make you _both_ upset."

"This isn't good," Nami said quietly, her gaze dropping to the floor. "What if he… _changes_ again?"

Sanji's teeth made a particularly loud grinding sound in his head. _Fuck._ He hadn't even _thought _about that. All he'd been thinking about was relieving some of his stress from lately through a good ol' sparring match, verbal or physical he hadn't cared, with his favorite target. His crewmate's recent changes hadn't even crossed his mind. _Damn it all… I'm an idiot. _"What do we do?" he bit out. He had to know, because if something _else_ had happened to Zoro and it was _his_ fault-

Nami sighed heavily. "I don't-" Her response was cut short when Zoro himself suddenly landed lightly on the ship's railing, seemingly having jumped up from below. He looked completely calm now, the expression they had grown used to seeing on his face lately, as he stepped down and walked past them to the back deck.

Sanji watched him go silently. _He's not my friend, _he reminded himself. _I don't care what happens to him. _And yet, once the swordsman was out of sight, Sanji moved to follow him. He immediately found Zoro sitting on the floor against the railing with his legs crossed and his arms behind his head. Hesitating for only a moment, Sanji slowly walked over and sat down beside him. Neither spoke to the other. Birds chirped and sang merrily as they flew in lazy circles overhead. A gentle breeze teased their hair. The ship began to slowly move. Finally, Sanji broke the silence. "So… you okay?"

Zoro didn't even so much as crack an eye open. "Why the hell wouldn't I be?"

Sanji shrugged, though not because he didn't know the answer. _I don't know if he should know about what Robin's told us. And even if I wanted to tell him… How the hell do you explain something like this? _"You didn't answer my question."

"I did."

"Not really."

"I did."

"You're being stubborn."

"Deal with it."

"Fuck you."

"Go to hell."

Sanji didn't feel like arguing anymore, and Zoro was still irritable besides. Now probably wasn't the best time to start something with him. After another short silence he asked, "Fifty-five million, huh?"

Zoro snorted softly. "I doubt that."

"It's what Nami said."

"Doesn't make a difference."

"He was that weak, huh?"

"Yes."

"The government's getting generous with their bounties." Zoro hummed some vague approximation of agreement and Sanji gave him a sidelong glance. "What's got you so rile today?"

Zoro sighed through slightly bared teeth. "Hell if I know."

"You do."

"It doesn't matter."

"It does."

"It doesn't."

"It does."

"Whatever."

"Why won't you talk about it?"

"Why the hell do you care?"

"Because-" It was only then that Sanji realized what Zoro had actually said. Frowning, he looked away. "I never said I cared."

"Then stop asking."

"No."

"If you don't care-"

"Never said I didn't care, either," Sanji muttered almost sullenly.

"You don't need to say it," Zoro muttered back just as moodily.

"Oh, yeah?" Sanji challenged. "Why's that?"

Zoro almost looked like he wanted to say something, but instead, he closed himself off with a muttered, "Nothin'," and said nothing more.

"Bastard." At this, Zoro's eyes finally opened to look at him. Sanji drew on his cig. "I hate you. That's what you were about to say, right? That I hate you?" Zoro didn't reply, but Still Sanji knew the answer. "Idiot," he said as he stood. He turned to walk away, hesitated, then turned back around. Zoro was watching him a bit uncertainly, almost as though he was trying to decide whether or not the cook would attack. Sani searched his gaze for a moment. Seeing the lingering doubt there he looked away, his hair covered his eyes so that they couldn't be seen. "Idiot," he said again. He turned and started walking away, calling back over his shoulder after only a few steps, "I've never hated you."

* * *

**Sorry for the delay. Posted 04-29-15.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Guys, I screwed up and posted the wrong chapter before! Sorry! **

* * *

Zoro was growing restless. They had ridden Knock Up Stream some time ago and were now in the middle of a seemingly endless sea of clouds. And, though they had been sailing for a good hour or so, no land had as of yet come into sight. He couldn't really explain why he was so restless. He just felt like there was someplace he needed to be, and wherever that place was, he needed to be there soon.

Nami stepped up to his side where he was standing at the railing of the front most portion of the ship. "Have you seen anything yet?" she asked, apparently having noticed how closely he'd been on the lookout for land.

He spared her a glance and answered, "No."

"Do you _smell_ anything?" she asked, almost too casually.

He contemplated asking her how in the hell she even knew about that before deciding that it just wasn't worth it. Asking such a question would provoke questions from her as well, about when he had started being able to smell so well, why he hadn't said anything and who knew what else. It would take a tiresome number of words to explain, or even to get _out_ of explaining, so he opted to simply answer, "No," again.

She sighed softly and turned around to face the crow's nest where Usopp was currently on watch. "Guess I'll just ask him, then, though I doubt he's seen anything with the way he's been lounging around." With that, she wandered off, leaving him in the silence and solitude he'd found lately that he so preferred.

He watched her go for a moment before turning his attention forward again. It didn't take long for a pressing question to enter his mind. How _did_ she know? He himself had just discovered this apparent ability a few days ago, and it wasn't like he'd told anyone about it. So how did she know?

The clink of glasses by his ear drew his attention away from his thoughts for now, and he cut a sideways glance toward Sanji, who stood by his side with two glasses in hand. "Thirsty, Marimo?"

Zoro's eyes narrowed subtly at the nickname, but he accepted the iced beverage anyway, giving it a brief, curious sniff before taking a small sip. It actually tasted good, whatever it was.

"You've been doing that a lot lately," Sanji observed as he took a sip of his own drink, causing Zoro to glance at him again. "Sniffing," the cook clarified. "Like when you tracked down Usopp and Chopper yesterday when they wandered off and we couldn't find them. I saw you sniffing a lot, breathing in deeply is more like it, as though you were checking the air. He took another drink before turning his head to look at Zoro. "Care to explain?"

Well, at least this answered the question of how Nami knew. Sanji must have said something to her. "No."

Much to his surprise, Sanji didn't argue. Instead, the cook just turned away with a shrug and leaned on his elbows on the railing. "Alright."

Several minutes of quiet passed before the relative tranquility was broken by Luffy's excited shouting. "Ooohhh! Look! A giant Sky Fish!" Then, without any warning, two rubber hands grabbed the railing between Zoro and Sanji, closely followed by a rubber body, which flew out to sea at breakneck speeds, slamming into Zoro and Sanji and taking them with him.

They landed in the cloudy sea with a crash. Zoro, acting more on instinct than anything else, grabbed Luffy under the arm and hauled him up to the surface. Once they were once again able to breathe, he glared at his captain. "Idiot."

Luffy laughed weakly. "Thanks, Zoro. Guess this is the same as regular water, huh? I can't swim."

Sanji broke the surface a second later. "You idiot!" he shouted angrily. "What the hell are you trying to do?! Not only did you get us soaked, but now you've lost two of my best glasses in the water!" Zoro decided to get Luffy back onto the ship before Sanji decided to kick the captain while Zoro was still holding onto him. With a sigh, he helped the rubber man back on board before following him up. Turning, he watched as Sanji pulled himself out of the water, muttering crossly to himself all the while. "Damn… rubber… lunatic… I'm gonna kill…"

Zoro shook his head and turned away from the cook, deciding not to listen anymore, as Nami loudly berated Luffy for his actions. "You idiot!" she cried, unintentionally copying Sanji's earlier statement. Luffy's only response was to laugh, which only served to fuel her anger. "What were you _thinking_?!"

Zoro turned away from the scene and returned his attention forward once more. Staring at the new thing that had appeared on the horizon he… blinked. He glanced to Nami, but in the end decided that he didn't want to bother raising his voice so that she could hear him over the sound of Luffy's laughter and her own yelling. Instead, he turned to Sanji once more, the only other person on the main deck right now, besides the dosing Usopp in the crow's nest. "Hey."

Sanji, turned to him. "Huh?" Then he blinked in much the same way that Zoro had done, his eyes going a bit wide. Raising his voice a bit, he called, "Hey, you two. Come look at this."

Soon everyone was gathered on the main deck, staring at the vaguely star shaped structure in the clouds that was slowly growing closer. On it was an engraving that read "Heaven's Gate". Below that was tunnel leading to the other side. When they reached the gate, they were all incredibly startled when they were suddenly blinded by a rapid series of camera flashes. After the blindness subsided, they were left staring at a short elderly woman with thin arms, a pink tunic, purple hair held up in dual buns, and, most shocking of all, two small wings on her back. Perhaps that was how she was floating above their deck.

"How many of you are there?" she asked, glancing around. "Let's see… seven. Doesn't matter. You'll need to pay 100,000 Extol each to pass through."

"Um… What are Extol?" Nami asked slowly.

"We don't have any Ex-whatevers," Luffy said with a comical frown.

"I'm not a warrior," the woman shrugged. "If you want to pass without paying, go ahead."

While Nami thanked the old woman sweetly (the navigator was _always_ happy to get put of spending her precious money), Zoro quickly became aware of the fact that he felt like he was being watched. He looked up and quickly saw that that strange old woman was, in fact, watching him. However, he had no idea as to _why_. But, in the end, he decided that he really didn't care. It didn't matter, anyway.

The old woman watched closely the one who had so completely captured her attention, though her uncaring expression did nothing to hint at her interest. He gazed back with an expression of apparent disinterest even as she floated away from the ship. As the ridiculous looking pile of wood sailed through the gate, one single thought entered her mind. _He's back. _

* * *

**Okay, I know this is late, and I know that it's short. I'm sorry! I got caught up in other stories and, more recently, I got swamped with a bunch of schoolwork. Posted 05-06-15.**


	9. Chapter 9

**So this is where the story _really_ starts to deviate from the cannon story. For one thing, I can say right now that there's likely nothing in this story that will involve the golden bell (though plans may change). ...Sorry if you were looking forward to something like that. Also, the divider just says the title in Japanese. Lastly, I am deeply sorry for the wait! I hope you can enjoy this chapter despite the obnoxious delay!**

**伝説の**

There was something _wrong_ about all of this. For one thing, it was way too quiet. And, for another thing, shouldn't they have reached land by now? "I just don't understand it," Namie sighed, staring down at the map Luffy had found and the Log Pose on her wrist. Surely this sea of clouds couldn't be _that_ large... right?

"Hey! Come back here with that! _Luffy_...!"

Sighing and rolling her eyes, Nami left her desk and the map and stepped out of her room just in time to see Luffy shove a large slab of meat into his rubbery mouth. He was running for his life as he chewed with Sanji not far behind. As they passed by Usopp, the sniper let out a shout of alarm from where he was fishing on the railing, ducking just in time to avoid Sanji's angry kick which had only just missed their captain. Seconds later, Chopper's terrified squeak could be heard as he dove out of the duo's way near the middle of the ship. In the crow's nest above, Robin watched the events unfolding with a small shake of her head. Finally, the pair raced to the back of the ship, and Nami hurried to follow, if only because she wanted to see it when Sanji finally smacked Luffy with that iron foot of his. _Honestly... you'd think that by now Luffy would have learned not to steal from the kitchen. _

Just as Nami rounded the corner, she finally heard the kick she'd been waiting for; however, much to her surprise (though at this point, little that this certain crew-mate of hers did could truly surprise her), it wasn't Sanji's foot that had connected Luffy's face. "What the hell are you doing?" asked a calm voice. Zoro, standing on one foot with the oter still squishing Luffy's face and his arms crossed, stood by patiently and waited for an answer from _somebody_.

"He stole meat from the kitchen, again," Sanji replied, glaring with gritted teeth at Luffy, who seemed as unrepentant as ever.

"I was _hungry_!" their captain whined, his voice somewhat muffled by his squished cheek.

Zoro sighed and removed his foot, seeming to have lost whatever slight interest he'd had in the quarrel before that point. Luffy then grinned at him before turning and walking away with a hand on his hat as a breeze whispered past, exclaiming at how much better he felt now that he'd had a snack. Letting out a sigh of her own, Nami approached the two lingering males. "So, this is new," she said conversationally.

Zoro said nothing, but Sanji was quick to jump in, apparently having caught on to what Nami had seen as well. "Hey, that's right. Since when can you kick hard enough to stop _Luffy_ dead in his tracks?"

Zoro merely shrugged and turned away, returning to his standing place at the back of the ship. Sighing again, Nami began heading back to her room while Sanji shook his head and walked back to the kitchen. Alone again, Zoro focused on the waves left behind as the ship continued it's journey through the sea of clouds. He still couldn't shake the feeling that he needed to be somewhere or doing something or maybe even both, but he couldn't explain either of these feelings. Why would he need to be anywhere but here, on this ship, with his crew? And for that matter, what could he possible need to be doing? His only job right now was to help keep an eye out for enemies, which he was doing. _So why, then...? _

**伝説の**

Back in her room again, Nami decided to set aside the map for now. _We'll reach land eventually. There's no point in worrying about it so much. _Besides, this provided her with a great opportunity to just sit back and relax for once. It had been a while since they'd been on such calm seas... or clouds, as it were. She could work on her maps, she could sunbathe, she could probably get away with taking a nap... Her eyes drifted to the nightstand beside her bed, where her present from Vivi rested. _Or I could read. _She hadn't actually had a chance to try and read it yet, and a part of her felt guilty for it. She had been given it with the understanding that she would actually _read_ it, after all. _Well, I'm not likely to get another chance like this, so I may as well take advantage of it. _With that in mind, she stood and picked up the book before returning to her seat at her desk. She ran her fingers lightly over the cover, smiling softly to herself as she did so. This book was centuries old, maybe even older. _I think I'll enjoy this. _Laying the book down on it and resting her cheek in her hand, she began to read, intent on burying herself in whatever story was hidden within these pages.

_"These words arelikely the last that I will ever write. My name... is Alkahar Nueve. I am a man who loves history. However, due to illness, my future is uncertain. I may not live to see the next week. As such I have decided to document all that I have learned throughout my many years of research. These stories are true beyond a shadow of a doubt. However, many will not believe so. Some have even been hidden away from the general public by the leaders of the world. However, have uncovered them with much pain and effort. I hope you will see as I do just how true these tales are. To start with, let me tell you the story of a young man who was both a brave warrior and a great king..." _

Nami smiled contentedly as she read story after story of ancient people, places, events, and adventures, none of which she had ever heard of. That lone fact made the stories all the more enjoyable in her eyes. There was the story of the warrior king at the beginning of the book, a story of a small girl who loved flowers and used that love to stop a war, a story of three friends who achieved their dream while traveling the world while conquering entire lands as she went... the list went on and on.

Toward the back of the book, (though still technically in the middle, more or less), an old and fading sketch caught her eye. It looked to be some three-dimensional rectangular stone with a pyramid-shaped top. The whole thing was covered from top to bottom with characters from a language she didn't understand and had never seen before. The structure was very tall, if the two tree sketched by its side were any indication. Several smaller drawings to the other side showed the structure's back, left side, right side, top, and bottom, whereas the main drawing only showed the front. Thought it certainly must have been extraordinarily difficult, the characters were again drawn onto the stone, and with great care. Frowning, she turned the page and began reading quickly.

_"I have had the privilege of studying a fair few works of history in my lifetime, but this one in particular has certainly held my interest more than the others. I will do my best to tell you the story engraved on this ancient stone structure as it was originally written._

_'Many years ago, in the sacred heavens, there lived a powerful god. Though mostly human in form, he was known to possess the traits of an animal as well. This great god, with his one white sword, ruled over the heavens. He was stern but fair, fought for the sake of others, and never abused his power. He was not, however, truly a king, for he did not wish to be. The other gods, however, were happy to be ruled by him and treated him as the supreme authority regardless. They bowed willingly before the God of Gods. However, one god sought power only for himself. He was unhappy with the way things were in Heaven, and decided to do something to change the order in his favor. One day, the dark seed of ambition, greed, and power-lust blossoming in his heart like a black flower, he and his followers struck the One True Ruler in a cowardly attack in the dead of night. That same night, the sky found itself under new leadership. The fate of the good god remains unknown. To this day, the people of heaven have not given up hope. Even now they are fighting, rebelling against their new king. His name burns like a fire in their hearts... a fire of anger and hatred. His name is...'_

_Unfortunately, someone scratched out the name some time ago. It is a a terrible thing, but it cannot be undone. Nonetheless, I believe a may have discovered the name of the cruel god from this tale._

_Eneru._

_By studying other works wiriten during this time about heaven as well as other gods, I have learned that there was a great deal of ire directed at this Eneru, to put it quite lightly. That doesn't sound much like the first 'good' god, now does it? However, Eneru was, and may still be, the ruler of Heaven. Perhaps his cruelty merely inspired the story above, meant to be nothing more than a legend or a fairy tale. However, I am inclined to believe otherwise. Now you, dear reader, must decide for yourself what to believe._

_There remains a lingering question of the stone on which this story was written and which I illustrated on the page before (I have decided to call it a Poneglyph). Where did it come from? And, for another thing, why was it hidden away as though some group of people did not wish for it to be found? I hope to learn more about this soon." _

Despite what the author had said, however, there was nothing more written on the subject of this "Poneglyph" anywhere in the book. There was, however, a startling revelation at the very end of the book. The second to last page had a single short entry written on it.

_"I have learned the name of this 'Heaven' that was mentioned in the story of the two gods I told to you before. Skypiea."_

Shocked, Nami's eyes flew to the last page to the right of the entry she had just read. On that page was a drawing of a map... the very same map that still rested on her desk.

**伝説の**

**So this is a bit shorter than I would have liked, but I hope you enjoyed nonetheless.**


	10. Chapter 10

_Luffy had been determined. His mind had been made up. He would be the one who defeated the Warlord of the Sea. That was what he'd decided, so that was what would be. _

_Or... so he'd thought. Several long hours of battle had left him weak and unable to fight. The sand had nearly dried him up. He was lucky to be conscious, if only barely. Nami gently held his head up as she slowly fed him a great deal of water. Sanji crouched nearby, watching the ongoing struggle between Zoro and Crocodile. He frowned as some of the Warlord's words reached his ears._

_"You're name's Zoro, eh...? Interesting. I thought I recognized your face."_

_Zoro glared at him but said nothing. His anger was obvious, as was the reason for it. People had died today. So many people were gone now… all because of this one person. Even Vivi wasn't unharmed. Crocodile grinned and lunged forward. With a soft growl, Zoro followed suit. Sanji's frown deepened as steel sliced through sand to no avail. 'Swords can't cut sand.'_

_The two swords Zoro held in his hands became trapped in mounds of sand taller than both him and Crocodile. The mounds, attached to the sand-man's arms in place of his hands, quickly swallowed the swords whole and Zoro yanked his hands out as the weapons were cast aside to the far side of the cavernous room in which they fought. The swordsman's expression was almost deadly calm… a look that always gave Sanji chills. If only looks could kill… then this battle would be over. He watched as his crewmate took his sword out of his mouth with his right hand and held it by his side, blade pointed toward their enemy._

_Crocodile's grin widened. "Now you look more like yourself."_

_Zoro made no reply to this odd comment and Sanji's looked on in confusion. 'What does he mean?' The Zoro everyone knew had three swords, not one. 'It makes no sense. How can he think that this is normal?'_

_Crocodile raised his chin and looked down his nose at his opponent. "Where's that anger, Zoro? That cold fury said to unleash so much power that it can destroy all of Heaven in a single day..."_

_Sanji watched as Zoro stared unblinkingly at Crocodile. 'What does he mean?' Sanji wondered again. Crocodile looked smug, as if he'd discovered some huge secret that could change the world if only he were to reveal it. Sanji's confusion grew. 'What is he talking about?'_

_Crocodile's smile grew dangerous. "Perhaps I should draw it out, then…" He raised an arm toward Zoro for another attack. "...by killing them!" His arm swung around to the three injured pirates at the back of the room and unleashed a tidal wave of sand._

_Nami screamed and dove out of the way as the tidal wave turned into a lethal barrage of giant brownish-yellow spikes. One such spike stabbed the ground where she'd been just seconds before. Gasping in alarm, Sanji hauled Luffy over his shoulder ran to join Nami in her flight. He winced when sand blasted his injuries, nearly making his already almost broken leg seize up and stop moving. Then, without warning, the sand changed direction and knocked him off his feet. Luffy was sent flying. Sanji couldn't tell if the blow had knocked the captain out or not. Another similar blow hit Sanji and Nami simultaneously, slamming them into each other so hard Sanji's vision went black for a moment. He landed hard with Nami beside him. She was unconscious. Seconds later, Sanji was struck again and everything went black._

**伝説の**

Sanji woke up quite abruptly from his sleep, vaguely surprised to find that he'd fallen asleep at the table in the kitchen. Puzzling over how he'd managed not to get a neck ache, he stood and stretched slowly. Walking outside, he briefly glanced at the crow's nest where, as usual, Zoro was on watch. Shaking his head, Sanji looked away and headed to the men's cabin to get some sleep. He'd think about his dream later. _Or maybe never._

**伝説の**

Luffy had known from the beginning that there was something special about him. It wasn't for nothing that the future pirate king had asked the green-haired swordsman to join his crew. It went beyond the man's incredible swordsmanship, too. There was some indefinable _something_ about him that always made Luffy sure that he'd made a good decision in picking the swordsman for his crew. This was never more apparent than now.

He may have seemed oblivious to the others, but Luffy wasn't blind, or stupid. He knew something was happening. He knew his first crew mate was changing, maybe for the better, maybe not. No one could say for sure yet.

Luffy looked over at the swordsman, who dozing calmly with his arms behind his head as he reclined on he railing nearby. He knew he'd made a good choice in picking Zoro for his crew. He'd always been a bit serious, sure, and he had, in the past, had a bit of temper and _maybe_ he was reckless at times. but... He also cared a lot for those who were close with him. He was just as protective of the rest of the crew as Luffy was. He was also more intelligent and logical than he used to really let on, he was strong, he wasn't afraid to throw away his life for the sake of any one of their crew mate's dreams... _Picked good._

So why this sense of worry, then?

He supposed he understood it. Zoro was changing, after all, even if those changes were often only subtle. Who knew how much he would change by the time this was all done? Who knew if he would even still be their friend once these changes were over? There was never any telling what was going to happen to him or when or why or how big of a change it would be or if they'd even notice the change at all.

But, all in all, Luffy wasn't worried. After all, he knew he hadn't made a mistake in picking Zoro for his crew. He'd always known that there was something special about his first mate. All these strange happenings were proof of that. And still he'd picked Zoro, in spite of knowing just how different he was from most people. Luffy had chosen him with the intention of being his friend and crew mate for life. Nothing would ever change that. _...Right?_

**伝説の**

**1,139 words this time. ...And sorry for the delay. Posted 10-17-15.**


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